13 MAR 2015 by ideonexus

 Phonetic Orthography in Spain and Italy

Fonetic spelling, in one form or another, has been, and is now, used by progressiv teachers in England and America as an introduction and an aid to the study of the current orthografy. Their experience is that children can spel correctly that is, fonetically the words they ar able to pronounce, as soon as they hav learnd the alfabet employd, and the principle of combining letters into sillables. In languages such as Italian and Spanish, that hav approximately fonetic alfabets, appro...
Folksonomies: education spelling
Folksonomies: education spelling
  1  notes

There is a cost savings that comes with reducing the number of years spent teaching spelling.

21 APR 2014 by ideonexus

 History in "A Song of Ice and Fire"

In this, the obvious contrast is with the only work of fantasy to compare in terms of ambition and achievement to Martin's own: The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's Middle-earth, unlike Westeros, is the creation of a dauntingly learned scholar: his ambition was to fashion from the languages, literature and history of the early middle ages an invented mythology that would nevertheless retain the stamp of the period that had inspired it. Martin's approach is infinitely more slapdash. Just as the ch...
Folksonomies: history fiction
Folksonomies: history fiction
  1  notes

ASOIF contains many references to real history.

16 MAR 2014 by ideonexus

 Simultaneous Invention

Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in 1879. What if he had never been born, Would we still have light bulbs? And would they still have been invented in 1879? It turns out that this is not just a philosophical question and the answer is yes, the light bulb would have been invented at roughly the same time. We know this because at least 23 other people built prototype light bulbs before Edison1, including two groups who filed patents and fought legal battles with him over the rights (Sawyer ...
Folksonomies: invention synchronicity
Folksonomies: invention synchronicity
  1  notes

Inventions being discovered simultaneously is not just coincidence, it's a regular phenomenon.